Distinguished Student Contribution

The Division offers this award to a graduate student in psychology who has made a distinguished contribution to research or practice, or who has performed exceptional service to the Division. Winners of this award represent the future of this Division, and have taken leadership early in their careers to advance LGBT issues in psychology. Graduate program faculty are encouraged to nominate their students for this award; self-nominations are also encouraged.

2008 winner

lore m. dickey, M.A - University of North Dakota
lore dickey is a graduate student in Counseling Psychology at the University of North Dakota. He holds three Master's degrees. By virtue of his extraordinary accomplishments, Mr. dickey is most deserving of our Distinguished Student Contribution Award. During all of his graduate career and even before, Mr. dickey has amassed a remarkable record of scholarship and service. He has at least twenty publications and innumerable presentations at local, national, and international meetings. His recent work has been primarily focused on transgender issues, and he is an advocate for social policy change on behalf of transgendered persons.

In just a few years, lore has been involved in a number of leadership and service roles in the Division, including the Transition Task Force and being Co-Chair of the Committee for Transgender and Gender Variance Issues for the Division. He has been a member and Chair of the American Psychological Association Graduate Student's Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns; and has served in several leadership positions in the Division of Counseling Psychology. lore has demonstrated solid leadership skills and a true commitment to LGBT concerns, social change, and professional and community involvement on behalf of LGBT people. These activities would be impressive for a mid-level faculty member and are certainly exemplary for a doctoral student.

2008 winner

Tisha Wiley, M.A. - University of Illinois at Chicago
Ms. Wiley is in her last year of graduate work of a doctoral program in Social Psychology, minoring in both Psychology and Law, and in Statistics, Methods, and Measurement at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has excelled as a graduate student in many ways. In particular, she has advanced research investigating the legal consequences of negative stereotyping of gay men, in particular, research aimed at exposing and understanding anti-gay biases in the legal system. Using a mock trial paradigm, she documented anti-gay biases that influence beliefs about child sexual abuse perpetrators. The results of her research were published in a top-tier journal, Law and Human Behavior. Ms. Wiley's independent line of research on sexual orientation and jurors' judgments in child sexual abuse cases has both theoretical implications but also clear significance for social justice.

She has won four competitive national research grants to support her research from APA and the American Society of Trial Consultants. The presentation of her results at the American Psychology-Law Society won a Best Student Paper Award from Division 37: Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice. In addition, her university just recognized the importance of this work by awarding her the Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues Graduate Award.

Ms. Wiley has already acted on her strong sense of civic responsibility by volunteering to help her department and university in so many ways that she was awarded the University of Illinois Alumni Association's "Wow Award" for service. She has also excelled in service to the APA by serving as Graduate Student Representative to Division 37 and has been a vital student member of Division 41.

As a student member of Division 44, we look forward to her bringing her energy and talent to the table and contributing to the next generation of leadership in our Division.

2007 winners

John Pachankis - SUNY Stony Brook
John Pachankis is currently pursuing his doctorate in Clinical Psychology at State University of New York, Stony Brook, and just beginning his internship at McLean Hospital in Boston. At Stony Brook, he has been described as "amazing" by his mentor (Division 44 ally Marvin Goldfried), and received his department's dissertation award for his study entitled "Mental and Physical Health Benefits of Disclosing Gay-Related Stress." Mr. Pachankis already has nine publications to his credit, has successfully taught diversity courses, has completed practica in LGBT-relevant settings, has been instrumental in furthering the work of AFFIRM, the ally group founded by Dr. Goldfried, has served as chair of the APAGS Committee on LGBT Concerns, and has served as the student representative on the Division19/44 task force on Military Service. Clearly, Mr. Pachankis has a bright future ahead of him and we congratulate him for his impressive accomplishments.

Brandy Smith - University of Memphis
Brandy Smith is currently pursuing her PhD in Counseling Psychology at the University of Memphis, and just beginning her internship at the University of Oregon. Brandy has been described by her mentor as having "extraordinary commitment" to LGBT issues, and her dissertation is entitled "The Psychological Impact of Bias-motivated Offenses Against Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Individuals Across Four Samples." Ms. Smith has 8 manuscripts to her credit, 20 presentations, several awards, teaching experience in LGBT issues, an award as the counseling psychology Student of the Year at Memphis, and five years of volunteering in the convention suite. Clearly, Ms. Smith has a bright future ahead of her.

2006 winner

David W. Pantalone - University of Washington
Mr. Pantalone received his Bachelor's Degree from Brown University and is currently a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Washington. Dr. Jane Simone, his academic advisor commended his performance with the following statement:

"After being admitted...David dove directly into his classes, his research assistantship on my project and his own research program...David independently selected his dissertation topic on partner violence among gay and bisexual men with HIV in consultation with direct-care providers at our collaborating HIV/AIDS clinic. David went on to recruit an advisory committee of national experts and he wrote a successful research application for funding to study it from the National Institute of Mental Health. Few students in our program apply for external funding and virtually none begin as early in their graduate career as did David. His work on the topic of interpersonal violence and HIV is bound to yield important information about this unfortunately common phenomenon in the lives of already stigmatized individuals."

Past winners

  • 2005 No award
  • 2004 No award
  • 2003 Francisco Sanchez, Kathy Banga
  • 2002 Kimberly Balsam
  • 2001 Silvestro Menzano
  • 2000 Julie Konik
  • 1999 no award
  • 1998 James Cantor
  • 1997 Neil Pilkington
  • 1996 Barry Chung
  • 1995 Jessica Morris
  • 1994 Karen Jordan
  • 1992 Pamela Brand, David Flaks

Nominations

Please send nominations for this award to the President-Elect.